Google Search may be pushing out another search ranking update of sorts, I am seeing more signs of tremors and volatility over the past 24-hours. Some of the tools are already picking up on it but the SEO community is noticing some big movement starting on Monday, May 12th and into today, Tuesday, May 13th.
The last time we reported on ranking volatility with Google Search was on May 8th but then it was a couple of weeks, not since April 25th and then before that, 22nd and 23rd volatility and then around April 16th and then before that around April 9th. We have yet to have second official update in 2025, we had the March 2025 core update but no other official update in 2025 - yet.
I should note that I may have missed reporting on a big update, around May 1st and 2nd based on Glenn Gabe - it seemed super big and I had people come to me after as well, asking about it. Sorry about missing this one.
That being said, here is what we are seeing.
SEO Chatter
Here is the SEO chatter I am seeing from within the SEO community on this site, at WebmasterWorld and on social over the past 24-hours:
Massive traffic gains! Never seen this before. Traffic doubling on a daily basis.
No traffic... Terrible
All Traffic is gone ...... few clicks last 24 hours !!!!!!
Something big(ger than normal) going on today, with G Japan anyway, shitty new features and after a slow decline from around May 8th, massive steep decline this morning. - down about 88%! Thought my website was broken, should have known better that it was just G being G and stealing more traffic / content.
Same. See total traffic down. WTF. My competitors traffic is increased.
Traffic is terribly bad even on Saturdays and Sundays these days, it's so upsetting
In the last two days there have been such low leads and sales on our site like we haven't seen in three years. It is devastating.
Yes zombie traffic is crazy actually, no inquiry, no orders, nothing.. And all metrics dropping.
Google is once again putting its foot down today. The news site was practically dead all day, and at 1pm the traffic in the store collapsed. So the weekend update was once again just there to squeeze out the small providers. Other website operators (with whom I spoke today) are also experiencing a significant drop in visitor numbers.
Google seems to have rolled out another stealth algo update that's affecting multiple sites. No volatility? @rustybrick? Noticed it since early morning.
— Alex Co (@excaliburps) May 13, 2025
Google Tracking Tools
Here is what many of the tools are showing - I might update them tomorrow when more data flows into these tools:
Wiredboard's Aggregator of Tools - this report shows the aggregate of the tools above and plots them on one chart:
So what are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
